Traditional Balkan
When speaking about life in the village of Vlasenica in the documentary “Flory’s Flame” Flory says, “We spoke a perfect Serbo-Croatian,” in addition to speaking Ladino at home and with members of the Sephardic community. We learned several songs like these two from Flory and still love performing them. When Tina wrote the script for “La Nona Kanta” she imagined that songs like these were what Flory would have played on the four-hour train trip from Zagreb to Split following the occupation of Zagreb in April 1941. Flory never recorded either of them, but Howard has a folder of more than a dozen such songs that she gave him, so clearly these songs remained close to her heart.
Susan, vocals, guitar; Howard, guitar, backup vocals; Tina, bass viol, fiddle
Shane Shanahan, Balkan drum
LYRICS + TRANSLATIONS
| Ti si rekla da češ doči | You said you would to come |
| Na prvi randevu | To our first rendezvous |
| O Marijana, slatka mila Marijana | O Marijana, sweet little Marijana, |
| Ja ču te čekati dok svane dan | I will wait for you ’til sunrise; |
| O Marijana, slatka mila Marijana | O Marijana, sweet little Marijana, |
| Ja ču te čekati jer tičes doč. | I will wait for you because you will |
| Baštom opet cvjeta majsko cvječe | In the garden flowers are blooming |
| A ja drhtim sav od sreče | And I am a-tremble with happiness |
| Jer čekam samo nju | Because I wait only for her. |
| O Marijana… | O Marijana… |
| Noč je oko mene svud je tama | It is night, around me it’s all dark |
| Marijana spava sama | And Marijana sleeps alone |
| I nezna da sam tu | And doesn’t even know I’m here. |
| O Marijana… | O Marijana |
| č = checj=k | |
| š = shoot | |
| lj = million | |
| ç = pretzel | |
| ž = leisure |
LYRICS + TRANSLATIONS Ptičice
| Sve pitičice uz gore | All the little birds |
| Spustile se na more | Flew down to the sea; |
| Samo jedna ostala | Only one remained |
| Koja mi je pjevala | To sing to me; |
| Koja mio je pjevala | To sing to me |
| O nesretnoj l jubavi | Of her unhappy love. |
| Zbojom ostaj mila ti | May God be with you |
| Moja prva l jubavi | My first love. |
| Ptičice | Little Birds |
